


Convenient Timing

by mercutiglo



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: M/M, Phone Calls & Telephones, Sad, Unrequited, Unrequited Love, im bad at tagging things im sorry, mentions of cecilos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-29
Updated: 2015-04-29
Packaged: 2018-03-26 07:09:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3841756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mercutiglo/pseuds/mercutiglo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Earl and Cecil have a /lovely/ conversation... (Written after worms...)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Convenient Timing

Cecil’s phone rang about two minutes after he finished the day’s broadcast. He was expecting it to be from Carlos, who calls him right after his broadcasts every once in a while, but wasn’t all too surprised to see that is was actually Earl Harlan calling him. He answered the call as he gathered up his bag. “Hey, Earl! How’s it going?”

“Hey Cecil, I wasn’t sure you were going to pick up. And I mean it’s going as much as our short meaningless lives technically can go when you’ve forgotten a large portion of it. How are you, Cecil?” Earl’s voice was somewhat covered up by the sounds of the kitchen of Tourniquet in the background, but Cecil heard the message and constant jab at the conversation Earl always wanted to have.

“I’m doing amazing right now, Earl. My body isn’t being used by someone else and I just got my vacation approved by Station Management - well, actually Human Resources- and so I’m planning on getting home and packing as quickly as I can so I can go find Carlos in the Desert Other World. So, why did you call me?”

Earl paused a moment, taken a bit aback. He walked towards the back door of the kitchen so he could sit on the back step and have a bit of privacy with his conversation. “Oh, really? I must have missed that part of your broadcast. I guess it doesn’t really matter anymore. How long will you be gone?”

Cecil stopped at the corner so as to abide by traffic laws, but also because he could have sworn that he heard something in Earl’s voice. He waved it off as something in the background of the kitchen over the phone and kept walking. “I don’t really know yet how long I’ll be gone. First I have to get into the Dog Park, because that’s where the Desert Other World is. Then I don’t know how long it will take to actually get where Carlos is. Then I’ll want to spend some time with him, and then we’ll have to get back, and then I still might need a little time just to get back to my normal life with Carlos. But no, I want to know what you were going to ask, I feel rude otherwise.”

Earl took a deep breath. “Well, I was going to ask if you wanted to do another cooking segment on your show soon, but now I see that that isn’t really going to be a possibility. And then if you weren’t going to be able to fit that in, I was going to ask if you wanted to...Chat? Or something at some point because I still feel like there’s a lot of things that I’ve missed and I just wanted to continue to catch up. Hang out. Things that people who have been friends since high school do. Because friends chat and hang out.”

Cecil frowned and let out a sigh. “Sorry Earl. I’m afraid my schedule has been thrown out the literal and figurative window and my vacation will last who knows how long. It also depends on whether or not Carlos is going to be able to leave the Desert Other World. Or at least how long it will take for me to convince him to come back. If I can convince him, that is.”

Earl’s eyes grew giant, even though he knew Cecil couldn’t see him, no matter how much he wished Cecil was there. “Wait, what do you mean by that, Cecil? Do you mean you might not come back? Cecil, what?”  
Cecil took a second to think about what he had just said. “Well, now that you say it that way, I guess that is a possibility. Earl, I really really love Carlos. I think I would be willing… I really don’t know, Earl. I’ve just gotten so tired recently with Night Vale in general. Maybe it’s because I haven’t had Carlos. Maybe it’s because of all the stuff going on with Mayor Cardinal and the whole issue with not knowing what I’ve been doing with my own body or who’s making me do it. I think I really just need a break from this town. Earl, do you realize that we’ve never left this town? Like, there was that one incident with those portals and the doubles and that horrendous and bloody other world, but that was horrible and definitely not a vacation. I’ll probably come back. I just don’t want to leave Carlos again. And anyways, time isn’t really the same anywhere, is it? I could be gone for two years but I’ll be back five minutes before I leave. Don’t worry about it too hard, Earl. Worrying just feeds that dark little square that sits in the corner of your TV screen and then eventually you won’t be able to watch TV at all because of that little square. And what would Night Vale do without it’s favorite radio host, Cecil Palmer?”

Earl tilted his head back to try and stop his silent tears from falling, but ended up just letting them roll out of the corners of his eyes into his hair. “Well then. Cecil, is there any chance you would be able to stop over at Tourniquet for just a minute or two before you go and leave for potentially forever?” He closed his eyes and leaned back against the outer wall of the building, still trying to stop the tears from flowing.

“I was concerned about you before, but now I’m really concerned, Earl. Something in your voice made it sound like you were dying.” This voice didn’t come from over a phone. Earl opened his eyes to see the one of two Cecil Palmer standing in front of him outside of the back of his own restaurant, putting his phone into his back pocket.

Earl quickly tried to dry his tears while standing up, but ended up nearly falling over, only to be caught by the wall of the restaurant. “Cecil, I… Wasn’t expecting you to be here so quickly. I just wanted… To say bye… Before…” He quickly choked up again and ended up covering his face with his hands and trying to run back inside so he wouldn’t have to tell Cecil what the real problem was. Cecil grabbed his arm and pulled him so he sat down on the steps. Cecil towered over him, with his hands on Earl’s shoulders.

“Earl. I want you to tell me everything that is the matter. I’m not leaving until you tell me why you’re crying.”

Earl looked up from his hands. “Then I’ll never tell you what’s wrong!”

Cecil took his hands back from his shoulders, staring back at Earl. “What? What does that mean?”

Earl took a deep breath and looked down at his hands, now resting in his lap. “I don’t want you to go, Cecil. I know if you leave you’ll either never come back or you’ll come back with Carlos and you’ll hardly ever talk to me ever again. You only ever started talking to me on your broadcasts after he left. Everything is about Carlos when he’s here, and everything is about missing Carlos when he isn’t here. Do you realize that there are other people who love you too?” At this point Earl is practically screaming, collapsing back into his hands sobbing harder than before after telling Cecil the truth.

Cecil looked at Earl, letting his words sink in. And then really letting his words sink in, understanding the full meaning of what Earl was saying, the full emotion behind it. He stood there, open mouthed, staring at his long-time friend. He remembered Earl breaking off their relationship in their junior year. Didn’t he? That was Earl that did that, right? Earl had said that the feelings weren’t there anymore, hadn’t he? Or did Cecil say all those things? He realized that asking would only make matters worse, so he didn’t. He felt his phone buzz from a text message in his back pocket, but his brain hardly even registered the idea of answering it. “Earl. Are you…. Really saying what I think you’re saying?” He figured clarification would be important, just as any good reporter would know to do.

Earl glared up at him out of his hands. “I don’t know, Cecil. What do you think I’m saying? That I’m still in love with you, even after all these years? Even though I lied to you and told you that I just didn’t feel it anymore? Yes, that is what I’m saying, Cecil. I actually don’t really think it was all that much of a lie. The feeling definitely wasn’t there, but not from me. From you. And after the fact that Carlos has been gone for so long, part of me was thinking that maybe something could start up between us again, but I was obviously wrong. Obviously my timing was just as horrible as it could possibly be, and so I’m sorry for bugging you, and I hope you enjoy finding Carlos and forgetting your best friends. Good luck, Cecil. I’m no longer concerned if you never come back.” And with that he got up and ran back inside Tourniquet, leaving Cecil standing on the back steps of the restaurant, a confused look cemented onto his face.

His phone buzzed again, reminding him that someone else had tried to contact him, hopefully his Carlos. He frowned when he saw that the text was simply one of those Night Vale Community Alerts reminding citizens that the Worms!! had left and it was safe to come out of homes once again.

While he walked the rest of the way home, he thought out loud, to fulfill his daily Thinking Out Loud requirement by the Sheriff's Secret Police. “Cecil, don’t think about it. He was free to tell you at any point before right now. He just chose a time that was very not advantageous for him. And you can’t deny that he was right. You had stopped feeling for him when he broke up with you. It doesn’t matter, Cecil. You don’t love him. You love Carlos and that’s what you can worry about. For now, you can just focus on getting home, packing, and figuring out who is… What a coincidence! Hey Carlos! Did you listen to today’s show?...”

**Author's Note:**

> Written for http://foogee.tumblr.com/ (She's rad go check her out)   
> Also I'm sorry for another sad fic, but I was trying to make her cry. I'll write another happy fic at some point, I swear.


End file.
